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What do Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have in common?

They all aided the re-election of Barack Obama by slamming their own party’s standard-bearer, Mitt Romney, during the ruthless race for the Republican nomination in 2012.

What does this matter, here and now in Toronto?

It matters because that’s exactly what four, right-of-centre mayoral candidates are about to do for Olivia Chow.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment was, “thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican.”

In the race to be chief magistrate of Toronto, we are seeing the right-leaning candidates doing precisely that.

Mayor Rob Ford and his brother, Coun. Doug Ford, hit John Tory repeatedly for being a puppet of the “elite.” David Soknacki slams Karen Stintz on her transit plans, which happen to be similar for all the candidates, with the exception of Soknacki.

Stintz has continued to go after Ford’s easily criticized record, on some — although not all — issues.

And Tory pulled the rug out from under Stintz, by officially announcing his candidacy the same day as hers, only earlier, stealing her thunder.

Meanwhile, NDP MP Olivia Chow is touring with her autobiographical book and staying above the fray in Ottawa. Taking occasional shots at Ford from the sidelines, Chow has been comparatively positive on the candidacies of Stintz and Tory.

Much of that though, may be attributable to the fact she desperately wants Stintz and Tory to stay in the race, and thus keep her conservative opponents divided and beating one another up.

It makes sense why the three other right-leaning challengers would all run against the scandal-plagued Rob Ford.

It also makes sense why they would each, individually, want to contest an election against Chow.

What is puzzling is why they are running against each other.

We know from recent competitive mayoral elections that electoral polarization will likely see two candidates being in contention to win by the end, with the rest either dropping out prior to voting day, or staying on to the bitter end, knowing they will receive only marginal support.

But this race may be different.

Ford is an aberration in politics. Most politicians would never be able to survive the long list of scandals he has inflicted upon himself.

To that extent, he and his beloved Ford Nation, will remain a factor in this election.

Chow, when she enters, will also be a true competitor in this race.

Either Soknacki, Stintz or Tory will be on the ballot October 27 — but they likely won’t all be.

As things are unfolding right now, the-free-for-all among the three major conservative candidates is only hurting whoever it is that will end up in contention to win, while making Ford, and more likely, Chow, more appealing by contrast.

Of course they believe that by bloodying their opponents into political submission, they will ensure they are the one left standing against Ford ... and Chow for that matter.

To me, Chow doesn’t have to engage in much disparaged but often effective “negative campaigning” because her competitors are doing it for her. They are helping her cause more than any operative on her team.

With enemies like these, who needs friends?

Let’s hope Tory, Stintz and Soknacki stop focusing on each other, and start growing support by promoting their plans for the future of Toronto. That means meeting voters in person and building their own strong voting base.

What’s happening instead is a perfect example of the rugged individualism conservatives hold so very near and dear to them. Ultimately, it will work against them.

The collectivist philosophy of the left could serve them well, with all of their support rallying behind one candidate.

In the end, only one of these right-of-centre candidates will have a chance of being elected mayor.

Let’s hope they are smart enough to stop damaging each other and to make sure the candidate they and their supporters fear most, isn’t elected.

— Batra is Comment Editor of the Toronto Sun and host of Straight Talk on Sun News Network